Broadcast seed-sower



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

0. F. HEARTWELL, Jr.

BROADCAST SEED SOWER.

No. 337,832. Patented Mar. 16, 1886.

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PATENT Fries.

OSCAR F. HEARTW'ELL, JR, OF JOLIET, ILLINOIS.

BROADCAST SEED-SOWER.

PECIPICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 337,832, dated March 16, 1886.

Application filed September I, 1885.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, OSCAR F. HEAR-TWELL, J12, a citizen of the United States ofAinerica, residing at Joliet, in the county of fill and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Broadcast Seed- Sowers, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to certain improvements in broadcast seed-sowers of the class designed to be attached to a farm-wagon and operated by means of power transmitted from one of the wagon wheels as the wagon advances in the field, which improvements consist in so constructing the parts as to render than capable of being vertically adjusted on the wagon, and in the construction and arrangement of the parts in the bottom of the hopper and in the distributer, and is intended as an improvement on the seed-sower described in Letters Patent of the United States, No. 319,411, dated June 2, 1885, granted to applicant.

Referring to said drawings, making a part of this specification, Figure l is a side view of the rear part of a wagon having a seed-sower attached to it as it would appear in service, and having a portion of the wagon-bed broken away to more clearly show the manner of attaching the seed-sewer to a wagon. Fig. 2 is a top view of the seed-distributer. Fig. 3 is arear view of a seed-sewer, showing it attached to a wagon-bed. Fig. 4 is a cross sectional view of one of the arms of the seed-distributer. Fig. 5 is a detailed View of the parts of the seeder, which are arranged at the base of the hopper to gage the quantity of seed to be sown and to regulate the delivery of seed on the distributer, portions being broken away to more clearly show their arrangement. Fig. 6 is a top plan View of a bed-plate, upon which the adjustable parts at the base of the hopper are arranged. Fig. 7 is a View of said bedplate, looking at it from the front part of the seed-sower. Fig. Sis a central vertical crosssection of the parts of the seed-sower located at the base of the hopper. Fig. 9 is a side view of one pair of the vertical slides and their parts which attach a seed-sower to a wagon. Fig. 10 is a bottom plan view of the partially- Sorial No.176,fi62. (No model.)

rotating plate located in the bottom of the hopper, and which has flanges arranged on it to formaguideway for the cutoff slides and for the seed-gage slide, so that said slides may be constantly held in the same relative position with said plate. Fig. 11 is a cross-sectional view of a pair of the vertical slides for attaching the seedsowertoa wagon to show their engaging-surfaces; and Fig. 12 is a plan view of one ofthe cut-off slides of the seed-sower.

A represents a wagonbed, andhas attached to its rear end a seed-sowerin such manner as to be operated, as the wagon advances, by a sprocket-chain, S, (see Fig. 1,) passing over sprocket-wheel S, which is clipped to the wagonwvheel, and sprocket'wheei Sof the seeder, which sprocketwheel is adjustably secured on the horizontal shaft S (see Fig. 3,) which is supported in bearings secured to the frame of the seeder, and which bears the large bevel gear-wheel C.

B is the base-board of the seeder, and has secured to its front part a board, B, arranged to extend down at right angles with said base,

and together with said base forms the body or frame of the seeder.

To the upper face of base-board B is arranged the necessary parts for gaging and delivering the seed to the distributer, and the hopper for holding the seed to be sown, and said base-board, together with said parts,forms a bearing for the upper end of perpendicular shaft Z, (see Figs. 3, 5,and 8,) which extends up into the hopper and has fixed in it a horizon tal pin arranged to project in opposite directions out over the sceddelivering apertures, and is for the purpose of agitating the seed as it is rotated, to insure positive delivery, and is also arranged to extend below said baseboard and rest in astep-box, and has fixed on it the seed-distributer D, immediately under said base and under the apertures in the parts at the bottom of the hopper, and a bevel-pinion, m, so arranged as to mesh with the bevel gear-wheel O and be rotated thereby.

The parts designed to hold sheave-wheel a in contact with chain S are shown in Figs. 1 and 3, and consist of a bar, a, secured to the frame of the seeder, and arranged to project at one side under the sprocket-chain. On this bar an arm, a, which bears on its outer end and consist of a pair of guiding-bars, d d, hav:

ing hooks h at their upper ends for hooking over the end-gate of a wagon, and offsets for resting on the rear end of the floor of the wagon bed, and a short distance below said offsets are arranged screw-threaded swivels c, which receive thescrew-hooks o, for the purpose of securing the lower part of said guiding-bars to the rear cross-bar of the under part of the wagon-bed, as shown in Fig. 1, and of a pair of slides, d d, attached to the seeder-v frame, which are arranged to be bolted to the v guiding-bars d d by bolts it in such manner that said bolts will, when the seederis adjust ed vertically, traverse the slots M of bars d cl. (See Fig. 9.) The engagingsurfaces of these guiding-bars and slides are corrugated lengthwise, (see Fig. 11,) so they may not become misplaced, and so they will have greater frictional contact with each other when the bolts are tightened to hold the seeder at the desired height.

The parts for gaging and regulating the de livery ot'seed are shown in Figs. 5, 6, 7, 8, and 10, and consist of a bed-plate, K, having extending side lugs, a pair of elongated aperturesm n, a central perforation for shaft Z, and

, a depression, 0, in its front part,which has a front slotted portion, 0, (see Fig. 6,) of a partially-rotating plate, E, having a pair of seed-delivering apertures, g, a central perforation for shaft Z, a forward-projecting portion, E, and extending bottom flanges, R, arranged in such manner as to form a rectangular space between their walls, and arranged to rest upon bed-plate K; of a 'rim, F, having a large central opening and provided with an offset on its inner edge, as shown in Fig, 8, to receive the the periphery oi'plate E, and having a downwardly-extending flange on its outer edge, excepting the space occupied by the extending portion E of plate E, arranged to rest on base-board B, to inclose the parts. The under part of said rim has bosses f (see Fig. 8) arranged to rest upon the side lugs of bed-plate K,so the parts are held to the base-board B by the bolts y, passing through both parts K and E, and of the cut-off slides J J ,which have apertures T, and the seed-gage slide G having apertures X X, near its inner end and an index-scale on its outer end.

The hopper H is secured to a bottom flange in the ordinary manner, and rests and .is secured upon rim F by means of the bolts 3 The arrangement of the adjustable parts at the base of the hopper is asfollows: The bed-plate K rests on the upper surface of base-board B, and upon this bed-plate rests the downwardly-extending flanges of the plate E in such manner as'to form a rectangular chamber between said bed-plate and plate E and the walls of said flanges. In this chamber the cut-off slidesJ J and seed-gage slide .G are placed so their apertures will correspond with the apertures in plates K and E when it is desired to sow seed; but when seed is not being sown the cutoff slides are pushed in so their apertures will pass the other apertures and cut off the discharge of seed.

Either slide J may be used separate from the other to cut-off the discharge of seed from 1 its side, so the seeder will only sow seed at one side and one way from the wagon.

The seed-gage slide G has. attached to its under side a depending eye-lug, L, which extends down between the cut-off slides JJ and i into the depressed portion 0 of plate K, and a thumb-screw, P, arranged through slot 0 in the front part of plate K, and screwed into said eye-lug, and is for the purpose of moving said gage longitudinally by turning the thumbscrew, and be retained at any desired place by said screw,to regulate the quantity of seed to be sown to the acre by shifting the apertures of the gage to diminish or increase the'passage of seed from the hopper so the seeder may be adapted to sow different kinds and quantities of seed.

The portion E of plate E extends at the front part of the seeder at the base of the hopper from under rim F far enough so it may be moved in either direction to partially rotate plate E and the slides and gage below it,so the 1 aperture at one side will be as much or as little one in advance of the other as required for the purpose before stated,and the plate E be held when adjusted by thumb-screw b which is arranged in rim F so it can be turned against E.

The apertures in plate K are elongated so seed may pass through them freely (the baseboard being cut away below them) from the apertures above them,wherever it is required to set the apertures of plate E.

The cut-off slides J J are cut away on one side, as shown in Fig. 12, to give room for the depending eye-lug L.

The seed-distributer D on shaft Z,which rotates to scatter seed that is delivered upon it, has its four radial arms slightly curved forward at their outer end, as shown in Fig. 2, and to their upper part is formed forwardlyprojecting flanges (shown at D, see Fig. 4,) to prevent seed from being thrown too high.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and useful, and desire to secure I by Letters Patent, is as follows, to wit:

1. In a broadcast seed-sower, the vertical guiding-bars d, having the attachments, substantially as shown and described, for securing them to a wagon-bed,in combination'with the slides d, secured to the frame of the seeder, j

and the means, substantially as set forth, for I uniting said parts to hold the seed-sower adjusted vertically,for the purpose specified.

2. In a broadcast seed-sower,the means described and shown for giving vertical adjustment, consisting of the combination of the guiding-bars d, having hooks h, and swivels v, and screwhooks o, for attaching them to a wagon-bed, slides d, secured to the seederframe, and bolts t, constructed and arranged substantially as set forth.

3. In the broadcast seed-sower described, the seed-distributer D, having its extending radial arms slightly curved forward at their outer end, and having forwardly-extending flanges arranged on the upper part of said radial arms, as and for the purpose set forth.

4. In combination with the chain and chain- Wheels for operating the seed-sower, and the means for holding tight said chain, consisting of the bar a, arm a, sheave a, and spring 10, a seed-sowing machine arranged to be vertically adjusted, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

5. In the seedingmachine shown and described,and in combination with the stationary baseplate K, constructed as specified, and the rim F,the rotatable plate E,having the flanges R, separate apertures g g, and extension E, gage-plate G,having the separate apertures X X, and slides J J ,each having an aperture, 1', sibstantially as and for the purpose set forth.

6. In combination with the frame of the seedsower arranged to be vertically adjusted, as specified, the hopper H,the flanged rim F,tl1e bed-plate K, having the two independent elongated apertures a n,depression 0,and slotted face-flange 0', plate E, arranged to be partially rotated,and having the two independent apertures g g, flanges R R, and extension E, the slides J J, each having an aperture, '1", gage-plate G,having the two independent apertures X X, depending lug L, and thumbscrew P, the shaft Z, the distributer D, the bevel-gears m and O, and the means shown and described for operating said parts, as and for the purpose set forth.

7. In combination with the frame of aseed sowing machine and the hopper thereof, the cast stationary base-plate K, flanged rim F, rotatable plate E,seed-gage plate G,and cutoff slides J J, arranged above the upper surface of the seeder-frame, and having two separate and distinct seed-discharging ports arranged in advance, and one at either side of the distribnter-shaft Z, and arranged to bring one of said ports in advance of the other by means of rotating said plate E, as and for the purpose set forth.

OSCAR 1 IHEARTWELL, JR.

Witnesses:

THos. H. HUToHINs, WM. J. HUOTHINS. 

